The people vs the spainiards

Queen Isabella, you are charged with the mistreatment and murder of hundreds, if not thousands, of Indigenous people of the New World. Defense, How does your client plead?

Lawyer: You honor, my client, Queen Isabella, pleads not guilty.

Prosecutor : Your honor, I wish to call a witness to the stand.

Judge : You may.

[Prosecutor turns around and gestures for a Native American to come to the stand, then goes with her to the stand]

Prosecutor : Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Witness One : I do.

Prosecutor : What happened to your tribe, the Aztecs?

Witness One : Cortes came and took so many of my people captive!

Prosecutor : How did you feel about all of these people killing your tribe?

Witness One : We were so scared of his metal weapons and guns!

Prosecutor : Thank you. Your witness.

Lawyer: Yes, but Queen Isabella did not order him to kill your tribe, did she?

Witness One : No, but my tribe was still killed by diseases from the Europeans!

Lawyer : That will be all.

Judge : You may call your next witness.

[Prosecutor turns around and gestures for another Native American to come to the stand and stands with her]

Prosecutor : Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Witness Two (Zarina from Aztecs): Yes, I do.

Prosecutor (Kamiya): Aztecs, please tell us your story.

Witness Two : Hernan Cortes killed thousands of Aztecs and ended a whole civilization because Queen Isabella ordered him to. There are only a few of us left.

Prosecutor : How do you feel about this?

Witness Two : I feel like they should go to prison and be executed.

Lawyer : Objection!!!

Judge : Overruled!

Witness Two : Queen Isabella gave Columbus the order and money to go on his voyage.

Prosecutor : That will be all.

Judge : Prosecutor, your next witness.

[Witness Two leaves the stand. Prosecutor calls up another witness.]

Prosecutor (Kamiya): Incas, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Witness Three (Incas): I do.

Prosecutor : Miriam of the Incas. What happened to your people?

Witness Three : Spain sent other people to conquer my land. One of these conquistadors, Francisco Pizarro, fought my people for control. He killed us with weapons and guns.

Prosecutor : How do you feel about all of these people killing all of your people?

Witness Four : I feel like they don't know what it's like to be slaves and not be free anymore.

Prosecutor : Did a lot of your family die?

Witness Four : Yes, all of my family. I only survived because you chose me for this trial.

Prosecutor : Thank you. Your witness.

Lawyer : Did Emperor Charles the 5th or Pizarro do it?

Witness Four : Pizarro, but only under the Emperor’s orders!

Lawyer :No, because Pizarro did it on his own.

Witness Three :Well, Pizzaro still spread smallpox and killed a lot of my people!

Lawyer So it was Pizarro. That will be all.

[Witness Three leaves the stand. Prosecutor gestures for another Native American to come to the stage]

Prosecutor : Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Witness Four : I do.

!

Prosecutor : Mayans, what happened to you?

Witness Four : My people were killed by the smallpox and died out. It was a very deadly disease.

Prosecutor :Who gave you smallpox?

Witness Four :When we were trading with the Aztecs, they spread the small pox to us. Small pox originated in Europe by the Europeans then the aztecs took the disease and gave it to us.

Prosecutor : That’s all, your witness.

Lawyer : The witness just said that smallpox was given by the Aztecs and not by my client. No further questions.

Judge : You may be seated. Final witness?

[Witness Four leaves the stand. Witness Five comes up]

Prosecutor :Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Witness Five :yes I do

Prosecutor (Kamiya): Tainos, what happened to you?

Witness Five : We were very nice and polite to Christopher Columbus and he killed all my people. I was almost killed but I escaped and fled with my younger brother and sister Hayden and Saro but they drowned. I am now alone.

Prosecutor : That will be all. Your honor, the prosecution rests.

Lawyer : Your Honor, I would like to call my client, Queen Isabella of Spain to the stand.

[Witness Five leaves the stand. Queen Isabella comes to the stand and lawyer starts asking her questions]

Lawyer : Queen Isabella, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Lawyer : When you sent explorers over to the new world, you were not aware that people were kidnapped?

Queen Isabella: No, I was not aware people were kidnapped?

Lawyer Lea: You thought they were brought over of their own free will?

Queen Isabella : Yes, I was unaware and thought they wanted to see a new land.

Lawyer : Did you tell Columbus that slavery was not okay?

Queen Isabella: Yes, I did tell him that slavery was not part of the plan?

Prosecutor : I OBJECT!

Judge :Sustained! I’ll allow the question.

Prosecutor : When did you tell him slavery was not acceptable?

Queen Isabella: After the 3rd voyage.

Lawyer : Did you ask if the slaves were treated humanely?

Queen Isabella :Yes I did.

Lawyer : And Columbus did not treat them right, correct?

Queen Isabella :Yes, he didn´t treat the slaves humanely.

Lawyer : So then he is the suspect, not you.

Queen Isabella :You are quite right!

Lawyer : So he should be on trial?

Queen Isabella : He was on the islands, not me.

Lawyer : So you don’t feel responsible for what columbus and other explorers did to the Indigenous people of the New world

Queen Isabella :No, I don’t.

Lawyer : Then what do you mean?

Queen Isabella I am saying that I do not deserve to be on trial for something I did not do.

Lawyer :Remember when Columbus told the slaves to go get gold for you?

Queen Isabella: Yes, I recall

Lawyer : And you didn’t tell him to make the slaves find the gold?

Queen Isabella : I told him to find and bring back gold for Spain gold. It was his decision of how to retrieve the gold.

Lawyer : So what we have been talking about, do you agree that Columbus is guilty?

Queen Isabella :I think it should be Columbus Cortez, Pizarro- even though they repeated in other lands what Columbus began with the Taino.

Lawyer :Your honor, the case rests.

Prosecutor :Columbus couldn’t have launched his plan without your money, so why did you give it to him?

Queen Isabella :I gave Columbus the money because he didn’t have enough. So I gave him some out of the kindness of my heart.

Prosecutor :Why did you send him to discover and claim new lands when you already had so much land?

Queen Isabella :I did it because Spain was overpopulated.

Prosecutor :You could have told him to stop capturing slaves after the first voyage.

Witness Two :[Stands up and points her finger] Why did you kill hundreds of us?!! You ordered conquistadors to kill my people, the Aztecs!

Mayans, Tainos, and Incas: Yeah!!

Queen Isabella : What are you talking about? Diseases killed the rest of the population. Pizarro, Cortes, and Columbus wanted to conquer your lands, so why are you just talking to me and not them? It’s not fair!

Judge : Order, order in the court!

[Prosecutor stops asking questions.]

Judge :The witnesses had the right to life, the right to freedom, and the freedom of thought, as well as no unfair detainment. Therefore, Queen Isabella, you violated 4 rights of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights such as:

Human Right #3, the right to life.

Human Right #4, no slavery.

Human Right #9, no unfair detainment.

Human Right #18, freedom of thought.

I find you guilty as an accomplice. Because you knowingly helped Columbus take the people against their will and when he came back you rewarded him for doing so.